Rick Kinnaird

Sunday September 6, 2020

56 Days until the election on November 3^rd

136 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

This morning the Western Bay was so calm the sky was reflected in it. There’s a kind of inner peace up here. It’s quiet. At night there’s little extraneous light. You can see The Milky Way. Behind the house I can see The Big and Little Dippers with Draco the Dragon running in-between. Most places these days you can’t see Draco.

I am deciding whether to ever say his name again, or to just refer to him as a friend of mine does and call him Satan.

The mail in many places has come to a halt. Those in the military and the families of those who fell in combat are now referred to as suckers and losers. There was a boat regatta in his honor in Texas and some boats sank and one caught fire. They called 911. What if there was no 911? The expectation that they want the government to work for them, when they need it, but for anyone else? Forget about it.

Suckers and Losers.

I am really thinking about confronting some of them and asking which they are, or are they both?

It’s good to be up here. It’s good to have the calm, the quiet, the lack of artificial light at night.

There always seems more to do. But that’s okay. Tomorrow is another day. The sun still comes up over there. The tide comes in. Is it all the way in? Is it actually low tide? So many questions. So much to contemplate. 

I went to the Shell station to get gas. The gift card didn’t work. Darn it. They wanted a pin. The pin number didn’t work. I went inside. The lady at the desk had to yell for the guy to come from out back. She had never had to work a gift card. 

The young man came out looked at the card and said, “this is a Shell gift card.”

Yeah? I know that. – I’m thinking.

Then he says, “We’re a Sunoco station.”

“Oh. Thanks.”

I walk out. Use a credit card.

Things like that used to bother me.

Not any more.

I have one big f*cking fish to fry. 

PS Sunrise

Saturday September 5, 2020

57 Days until the election on November 3^rd

137 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

Yesterday I was in the local hardware store and I saw a man wearing a facemask with the Trump name on it. 

I wanted to go up and ask him if he was a sucker or a loser.

Maybe, I should have. Maybe more people will start confronting these people and maybe, just maybe, those diehard supporters will feel something this president does not – shame. 

Maybe, I’m being optimistic.

Ah me.

Moving on.

We are experiencing Maine at it’s best. Last night I got up and took a picture of the moonlight coming through the vertical slats onto the deck. The big yacht with all its ostentatious lights had left and the sky was cloudless. Orion was rising. It was quiet. It’s the kind of quiet most people no longer experience. Except for the occasional bird cry there wasn’t a sound. The water was calm and therefore the lapping sound of the waves was gone too. It’s a kind of quiet I’ve come to treasure.

This morning I stood on the deck. Low tide was near. Not a sound and then, a group of docks flew by – squawking and honking. 

It’s a special kind of place.

57 Days until the election on November 3^rd

137 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

Friday Sept 4, 2020

58 Days until the election on November 3^rd

138 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

The other day Shelby backed out of the garage to go to the store. I decided to take my dad’s old push broom and sweep out the area where the car had been. There’s something about sweeping, especially with a wide push broom. It’s meditative.

I start at the back and begin pushing toward the doorway. Then I go down a side, sweeping at an angle. I can watch the dirt and dust begin to form a strip, which I will eventually push out the door or into a dustpan. 

James Clavel in one of his books talks about a man preparing a place for a tea ceremony. Maybe it was Shogun or Whirlwind; I can’t remember which book, but there is that Zen thing about sweeping, raking leaves too. 

I got to think about my dad, about Shelby, and I calmed myself.

“You know a leaf blower does a much better job.”

Yes, I know. But it’s the difference between an old reel push lawn mower and a rotar engined mower. The little clicking is quiet and calming.

If I want to blow dust and debris all over the place and inflame my allergies I’ll pick up the blower, but for now, I’ll sweep.

In other news, it looks like Trump’s plans to make a hash of the election are working.

It is also coming to light again, that Trump has distain for anyone killed in action. He calls them losers and suckers. This is not new information but a story about him refusing to go to a graveyard where Marines from WWI are buried has resurfaced. He apparently spends two hours a day on makeup and hair. He was afraid the rain that day would ruin his hairdo. He also didn’t know which side he should be supporting Germany or the Allies. Actually, it was he didn’t understand why we supported the allies.

PS Morning Mist

Thursday Sept 3, 2020

59 Days until the election on November 3^rd

139 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

Yeah so, new strategy from the White House regarding Covid-19. Herd Immunity! This is the idea that if enough people get the virus that they will become immune and then the virus will stop spreading. 

What do we know, or think we know, in this regard. 

Well, we don’t know if once you get the virus you are immune and can’t get it again. In fact, there are reports that at least one person has gotten it a second time.

There are figures on the death rate from this virus. It’s at between 2-3%. You can look it up and do some math, but for this idea to work, and we don’t know if it would, between 2 and 3 million people would die.

The White House strategy is to slow down testing, let the virus spread quicker, and we’ll reach herd immunity sooner.

This is nuts.

Just to be clear.

This is nuts.

Trump wants to kill as many Americans as possible as quickly as possible. The number would be half of what Hitler exterminated in Germany.

That’s the league we are talking. 

Then there’s the logistics problems. What about the already over burdened hospitals? Where are we going to put the bodies? Etc.

Hey, I got it. Put them in the mail. Send them to The White House.

OMG. Gag me with a pitchfork.

59 Days until the election on November 3^rd

139 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS Slightly foggy, slightly blurry.

Wednesday Sept 2, 2020

60 Days until the election on November 3^rd

140 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

There’s a new book out, seems like there’s one every day. This one is from Melania’s BFF, who is no longer her BFF, ever since they threw her under the bus. She was the lady in charge of the Inauguration. She’s a big time event planner. She knows how to do these things. She keeps records. Very detailed records. She knows exactly how much she spent and where it went. Therein lies the problem.

She used twenty six million for the Inauguration. She spent, actually passed through twenty five, and she has record for the last million, very good records. Therein lies the problem. See if you can figure it out.

The Inauguration committee took in over one hundred million, and no one seems to know where that money went. They spent 26 on the inauguration and took in, I think 104. Lemme do some quick math 104 – 26 = 78. So there’s 78 million that is unaccounted for. That’s a problem if you are a non-profit. If you spent the money, or took the money, for things you weren’t supposed to, you have broken the law. You could go to jail. Seems the finance boys were having problems making the numbers add up. When she asked, “Why?”  She ended up no longer being invited to the meetings. A year late they filed the paperwork, and it didn’t add up. They tried to blame her, but she has records. She can prove what she did and where she spent the money. She is helping three criminal investigations.

Hum.

One person has already admitted that they “might” have taken some money from the committee. He’s in jail. Another is cooperating, and he got Michael Cohen to pay off a Playboy bunny he got pregnant. There are others. 

Did Trump know? Did he get some of the money? She says he knew. Whether he got some of the money, she doesn’t know.

Let me consult my Magic 8 Ball … “Signs Point to ‘YES’ “

Meanwhile both the president and Ron Paul are pushing a far right conspiracy theory about the unrest in the cities. Imagine that? They have access to some of the best information in the world and instead they are pushing nutty conspiracy theories.

60 Days until the election on November 3^rd

140 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS Sailing on The Western Bay, Beech Mountain in the background